I see someone else has already sort of argued with this, but I will say two things:
Dell (or whomever), always runs sales. Apple never runs sales.
Also, the Dell you picked has 3 gig of ram, which tends to be the most expensive add-on for laptops (for example, for the MacBook, upgrading to two gig costs $150, and to 4 gig costs $850; a huge markup. To up the Dell to 4 gig costs $250, as they’re only subbing out a 1gig dimm for a 2gig one).
I’d say at best they’re comparable, with a price advantage going to the Dell.
However, I think the Mac Book is a very affordable and snazzy laptop. Finally Apple has a laptop at a decent price that is powerful. I want one.
The MacBook Pro, on the other hand, is priced way beyond what I’d want to pay for a laptop.
Apple puts out some fine products, but to insist that they’re always superior at every price point for all needs is just wrong. I don’t see how, if that were true, they’d have stayed the underdog for so long.
It’s cutesy and all that, but it’s nothing a “road warrior” would use for presentations or other business apps. It’s great, presumably, for watching movies, playing music and surfing, but outside of that, it’s just a heavy frisbee.
How does Apple get away with these “pronouncements” they make so often? They said the iPhone was (paraphrasing) the first phone that got wi-fi. Um, no. I think they’ve claimed many times they were “the first” at something-or-other and they actually weren’t.
I realize “ultra unlike anything else” is just marketing BS but who are the people who are believing it? Like I said earlier, I’ve been buying 3 pound laptops for nearly 8 years! Where does Apple get off acting like they just invented the wheel?
$1844 here, with same specs except 120GB Hard Drive. Add $349 for 3-year Apple Care protection, or $188 for PC Connection’s warranty.
(And, yes, that’s an Apple licensed retailer and where I’ve bought a MacBook, a MacBook Pro, and a MacPro from, all without any problems.)
edit: Actually, the MBP is a matte, not glossy screen, in the link. I don’t know whether that makes it cheaper or more expensive, but I don’t know anyone who uses an MBP with a glossy screen. Yuck.
I’m fairly certain it does not. You can always access the right click by either control-clicking, or putting two fingers on the trackpad and clicking (you have to set that in System Preferences under Mouse and Keyboard.) And, of course, it’ll work with a multi-buttoned external mouse.
That was my first impression, but then I remembered that’s what I thought about the first Nano. Which turned out to be nigh indestructable (but not big or blue). And the non-removable battery may turn out to be a wise move in the long run, especially since TSA’s starting to worry about removable lithium batteries.
I saw something about the Macbook Air being made out of more easily recyclable materials; any possibility the non-user replacable battery was intended to ensure that old batteries were recycled, rather than ending up in landfills or incinerators?
No 2nd button, but it has trackpad gestures (like rotating, pinching and moving windows) like the iPhone. And of course, as already mentioned, the Control key, acts as a right clicking, and you can always plug in a multi-button mouse.
Surely you’ve heard of the Steve Jobs Reality Distortion Field. (And note that as a longtime PC owner who only recently bought his first Apple, a Macbook, I have to admit that Apple does a great job on the aesthetics of its products.)
The MacBook Air isn’t my cup 'o tea, but apparently Apple thought they needed to make such a device. What kind of people need such a thing in the PC world? And how well were ultra-portables selling?
Business people who travel and have to lug crap through airports need ultralightweights. It doesn’t seem like a pound or pound and a half would make a big difference but it really does when you’re carrying stuff around for a while.
I have the 3-pound Dell I mentioned and I have a 4.7-pound Dell. And the 4.7 is very noticeably heavier after 10 minutes of carrying it. Carrying it for a whole day is torture. In fact I usually just won’t bring it anymore even though it’s my main work computer; I bring the lighter one and live without my offline folder & files.
I’m sure Apple will have lots of Mac people who will buy this; it’s the “we’re breaking new computing ground again” attitude that is laughable. Oh pul-lease.
I don’t want to get too off topic here, but someone else brought it up and I’m curious: Why doesn’t Apple just put a god-damn second mouse button on it’s devices? They obviously have software support for it’s function, but instead of doing the easy thing for their customers by making laptops and mice with a right button, they force them to either use this and that touchpad combo, or hit the control key. It’s very nice to be able ot use the mouse and only the mouse when I do things that require both left and right clicking. I don’t want to always have to reach up and hit a keyboard button just so I can have the same effect a second mouse button would give.
Yeah, I can use an external third-party mouse, but why should I have to?
Oh, right…cause a second mouse button would be ugly, or something. :rolleyes:
The mice that ship with all the macs do have a right click mouse (and in fact, has a scroll ball that functions as a 3rd button, and squeezing the sides gives you a 4th).
It’s the lap top’s track pad that only has one button.
Exactly. Especially when you consider encumbrance rules. For example, a rogue with a STR score of 13 might find that that extra pound pushes his total load from 50 pounds to 51 pounds. This might seem insignificant, but in fact it bumps his load from “light” to “medium”. This has a net effect of reducing his base land speed from 30 feet (6 squares) to 20 feet (4 squares). Even worse, consider the –3 Armor Check penalty that comes with carrying a medium load - a serious drawback for a skills-dependent character such as a rogue. A character such as a monk or a barbarian is unable to use his Fast Movement class feature when carrying a medium load, as well.
Waitaminnit … which forum is this? Where have you taken me?!
